George Clooney blows up in Vegas over Obama insults

George Clooney is a friend of President Obama and sensitive about protecting that friendship. Maybe that's why Clooney blew up in Vegas recently when casino magnate Steve Wynn insulted his pal.(Photo: Carolyn Kaster/Chris Pizzello AP)

George Clooney likes President Obama, so don't be dissing his pal in his presence. It could get awkward.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting today that Clooney got drunk and blew up at a table-full of honchos in Vegas, including Republican casino magnate Steve Wynn, after Wynn criticized the president and the Affordable Care Act.

This happened two weeks ago at Botero restaurant inside Wynn's Encore hotel, when Clooney was in town with his partners to promote their Casamigos tequila during the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America convention.

Included at the dinner table besides Wynn and his wife were Clooney's business partners and a couple of executives from Hollywood powerhouse Creative Artists Agency, which represents Clooney.

"He called the president an (expletive deleted) ... that is a fact ..." Clooney said in a statement issued by his publicist. "I said the president was my longtime friend and then he said 'your friend is an (expletive deleted).' ... At that point I told Steve that HE was an (expletive deleted) and I wasn't going to sit at his table while he was being such a jackass."

Then he walked off, he said, after exchanging a few more expletives deleted.

"It had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with character," Clooney's statement said.

Wynn, a major donor to Republicans who is not an Obama fan, did not confirm that he referred to the president as an (expletive deleted). But he told the paper that Clooney first got upset at the dinner when one of the CAA execs told a joke about former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Clooney threw "a hissy fit" about that, Wynn told the paper, then started talking about the ACA, or Obamacare. When Wynn, a frequent critic of Obamacare, spoke up, Clooney got mad about that, too, Wynn said.

Wynn blamed it all on the demon liquor.

"When he's drinking, (Clooney) considers himself a close personal buddy of the president," he said. "Clooney's fun to be with when he's sober. If you have a chance to drink with him, you want to get there early, and don't stay late."